HAWKINS: To rebuild the auto industry

China's best effort so far at auto production is really, really bad. But, their interest in succeeding in the industry shows through, anyway. Why not sell China a stake in the success of US automakers? Buy stock in America. Not too much, but not too little involvement, so maybe a win-win outcome could be possible? Yeah, let's be friends! I could imagine worse solutions.

HAWKINS: To Rebuild the Auto Industry 11/19/08 I agree with Mr. Hawkins--and particularly about the disastrous effects upon our domestic industries of the "free trade" agreements that the U.S. is forever negotiating. Henry Ford figured it out in 1914: the sum total of America's workers is the sum total of America's consumers. The loss of Chrysler, Ford, and GM would be a serious blow to our economy because real wealth--enabling a high standard of living--can only be produced by home-owned manufacturing which enables an expanding economy; and there is no industry waiting in the wings to replace our domestic auto-industry, should it go belly-up. Our overall situation is frighteningly like that of Britain in the late 19th century. Her supercapitalists became so greedy that their goal was no longer to grow rich while also enriching their country. Instead, they thought only of maximizing their own wealth. They stopped identifying with their country; they thought of it as just another "economy." They allowed their own country's industrial base to run down and wear out, while they invested their money abroad where labor was cheaper and they could earn a few points' greater profit. Because--in effect--they owned and operated Britain's government, it could do nothing to stop them. In their unlimited greed, they destroyed everything that generations of their predecessors had labored mightily to build up. That is what is happening to us right now. To make matters worse for our existing manufacturers, the supercapitalists also persuaded Congress to change the stock market back into the gambling den of the 1920s. The market now demands quarterly financial-reports from manufacturers, not annual reports. And woe unto any manufacturer who dares spend any money on R&D or equipment upgrades or plant expansion, instead of paying out every possible penny of income as dividends. The vindictive market will instantly trash the share-price of that corporation's stock. The market puts inexorable pressure on each manufacturer to ship his manufacturing abroad, or--failing that--to continue making the same product year after year, and to charge the highest-possible price for it. No other auto manufacturer in the world has to operate in that kind of environment. After her supercapitalists had destroyed Britain's manufacturing base, she was able to keep going awhile longer based upon the previous strength and stability of her financial markets. But it turns out that our supercapitalists and our federal government have been destroying our financial markets too. So where will America's wealth come from, that will permit Middle America to continue to buy comfortable houses and new cars, and maintain the rest of the lifestyle that we were able to acquire because our supercapitalists were building instead of destroying our manufacturing base? What new industry is ready to replace the Big Three right now?

So far, everyone except the unions has been severely punished. The stockholders and bondholders have been devastated. The white collar workers have been dismissed in large numbers. The taxpayer is getting hammered from all sides. Because of union agreements, the Big 3 can only build large vehicles with big profit margins in order to pay the unions' inflated demands. Before any aid is given, the unions must make big concessions to get car prices competitive. Otherwise, any aid will go straight to union benefits and the Big 3 will remain as a drag on the economy and taxpayer.

Because of excessive demands by the unions the majority of the corporations in the manufacturing of goods have left our country except for a few, one of the few being the automoile industry and now there is a good chance the Big Three (GM, Ford and Chrysler) will have no other option but to follow suit. Thank you, Auto Workers' Union. To be affiliated with a union, you must really hate America.

Let's shut down Washington for a few months. Let the markets sort things out. Stop wasting our tax dollars on poorly run businesses and stop increasing the debt our great-great-great-grandchildren's great-great-great grandchildren will inherit. This is utter lunacy. It can be said that we deserve this considering that we elected an untested president based solely on his oratory skills and the vast amounts of money thrown into his glitzy campaign by yet unidentified interests.

Whenever you see a picture of a UAW worker, he or she always looks extremely overweight. Why is that?

Regarding Collardgreens1's comments about British industrialists, I think that is a highly simplified analysis of Great Britain's situation in the 19th Century. The fact of the matter is that globalization was happening even then, and Britain faced growing competition from the rising industrial powers of the United States and Germany. At the same time, 19th Century Great Britain faced greater challenges and costs in both maintaining its empire and a naval arms race with a resurgent Germany. As a nation, we face much the same situation with growing industrial competition from China, Japan, India, Brazil, South Korea, and Europe. The Asian tigers and the major nations of the third world are learning how to manufacture cheaply and effectively, and have no desire to be any longer just a source of raw materials for the U.S. and Europe. If we confront this problem as though America exists in a vacuum, then whatever solutions we come up with to help the U.S. auto industry and other heavy manufacturers are bound to fail. Having Congress effectively take over the Big Three is a road map to waste and ruin. Instead, if we're really serious about restoring heavy manufacturing, we have to got to do what is necessary to make America competitive with the growing Asian and third world industrial bases. That would mean taking extraordinary measures that certain special interest groups would object to. Less regulation, lower corporate taxes, elimination of special interest and activist groups' ability to obstruct construction of new plants and chemical facilities, and ensuring real free trade will help with this for the long term. That may not be enough to help the auto industry in the short term so Congress should remove all taxation off the Big 3 for 10 years, revoke the Wagner Act, and enact laws allowing them to renegotiate all union contracts and revoke in-state dealership franchise agreements so that the Big 3 can modernize its distribution network. Painful solutions, but, if we're really serious about saving them without having to wet nurse them in perpetuity, then this is what must be done.